Katie Kirk’s Illustration Shapes

Minnesota-based illustrator Katie Kirk and one half of design boutique EightHourDay gets it just right when it comes to creating defined and enticing shapes in digital illustration. It is the effective way in which her illustrations are composed of these shapes that makes her work special.

I asked her about her work process in creating these and what she’s busy with at the moment.

Katie’s work process:

‘Typically I brainstorm some ideas, first starting with lists of elements and then moving on to quick sketches to help figure out the layout. If I have the time, like with my personal work, I love to have a couple days to have it just roll around in my head. I feel like it is this time that really helps to form what the concept is and how I want to illustrate it.

I then move to Adobe Illustrator and start working away. Every time I hit a tier, a point of refinement, I usually save another copy (art1, art2, etc). This helps to keep track of where I’ve been but also work in stages of importance: Concept > Layout > Refine shapes > Refine colors, and so on.’ⓒ Katie Kirk, 2010

Katie is mainly working on design work currently and finds herself between illustration jobs. She’s about to get started on a new personal print, so keep an eye out!